Although practically any sort of oilcan
can be used to lubricate a toy steam engine nothing is quite as
satisfactory as a miniature version of the sort of full sized oilcan
used by the engineers of yesteryear. Probably the best of these is the
Sutcliffe 1/8 pint oilcan.These were made in three basic designs and a variety
of colours.

The standard Oil Can.

The commonest design is
probably the oldest. These had a cylindrical oil release button, a
crudely stamped letter on the base and a Sutcliffe transfer on the top.
The transfers tended to wash off easily and are difficult to find in
good condition. Spouts could be tipped in brass or left plain. The
filler cap was a brass screw fitting.

In the older cans this was quite thick
and knurled but more recent cans used a thinner, milled edge cap.

The significance of the base letter/number is not
clear at present . The stampings are poorly done and can be difficult to decipher.It
is probable that the letter is a production control indicator.

Notice that the brass tip is not painted.

The red and mid green cans appear to be the commonest
although several dark green cans have become available recently. These
may be older.

The light blue cans are seen from time to time but
black cans are rather rare and may well all be repaints.I have also seen yellow , grey and aluminium
paint examples but I am pretty sure they were all repaints.

I have also seen a old style can in "Mamod
Green" but with a Sutcliffe transfer.

Odd as it appears from the state of the button to be
unused which implies a repaint.

There are at least two versions of the old style can around in
Mamod livery although the shade is different to the very light green of
the official can. These are probably resprays. It is noticeable that they
often have brass tips which are invariably painted to match the body.

The body pressing appears to be inferior to the
Sutcliffe can and this may indicate a different manufacturer, possibly
using the original Sutcliffe tooling.

The more recent example, above, appears to use the
same shade of green paint as the recent upright "Mamod"
oilcan.

Another is in the red of the other upright can

With the availability of replica Mamod transfers a
cottage industry of repainting Sutcliffe oil cans has developed and some
of the more recent creations seem to match the original Mamod paint
scheme more accurately.

Others seem to have been given a quick wipe and a new
transfer

Others seem to be going off down the road of
"collectibles" with recent specimens sporting presumably
spurious Castrol and Pratts insignia

Pretty but clearly repaints.

Polished steel cans.

There seems to be a fashion among oilcan collectors to
polish them. The example below was once red.

Nickel plated cans?

A recent, very shiny can appeared on ebay that was
described as the very rare nickel plated can. It was certainly very
shiny and, if merely a polished steel can, had been very well polished.
Although the photographs were rather over-exposed it appeared to be
similar in design to the uncommon yellow can which rather supports the
theory that it was supplied in a plated condition. Perhaps these cans,
being sought after, stimulated the rather odd idea of polishing the
basic cans rather as the desirability of the official Mamod can has led
to the repainting and transferring of ordinary Sutcliffe cans.

Pump type Sutcliffe cans.

Although the standard Sutcliffe cans are often
referred to as Pump type cans the button merely releases the oil. Cans
that forcibly eject the oil can be distinguished by the brass insert
around the plunger button as below.

An example I have seen carried a distinctive transfer
"Sutcliffe Minijet Oiler" and the base was impressed "Made in England".

All the examples I have seen have been a light green.
I suspect the example at the top is a lighting effect and is actually
green but I stand to be corrected.

The availabilty of pump type and standard oil cans
obviously caused some confusion and some of the later standard cans
carried a warning label on the base.

The Mamod Official Oil Can.

For a short period Mamod
marketed an official Sutcliffe made oilcan. The can was to the later
design with T shaped oil release button, red plastic filler cap, no
brass tip and the
Sutcliffe name embossed on the base. It was painted a distinctive light
green.

This was also produced with a black
plastic filler cap of lower profile than the red plastic version. This
cap is almost impossible to remove without damage to one's nails and was
clearly originally designed as a one-trip sealant for pipe fittings and the like.
No doubt an excellent example of the way value engineering can degrade a
product to everyone but an accountant.

Another example recently appeared on ebay that not only
sported a brass tip but had a brass filler cap that appeared to be the
earlier large diameter Mamod safety valve. It also sported its transfer
on the "wrong" side. Either a pre-production
mock-up or someone's later modification.

A neat job whatever.

Similar cans in pale blue and yellow appear to have
been marketed by Sutcliffe, possibly in connection with their range of
clockwork boats.

The later version has the same button as the Mamod
version and similar embossed details on the base.

Note the different button on the yellow can and the
black plastic filler cap on the blue one. The blue version evidently
appeared also with a white plastic filler cap similar to the red
versions seen on the Mamod cans.

Other branded cans.

So far I have come across two cans with additional transfers
on the side. A red one with a Salmen transfer

and an older green one with a rather distinctive imp
thumbing his nose.

Salmen are (or were) a well known tool company so it seems
reasonable to assume this can was made for them, possibly as an advertising
device but more likely for resale. The Imp

may well be a similar trade mark. Any information would be
welcome.

Bacon Slicers

A recent Item on Ebay was a Sutcliffe oilcan with the impressed
exhortation to "Use Berkels Oil". I have now come across several
such cans and they have all been described as advertising items. Berkel
are a well known manufacturer of meat slicing and weighing machines and
the cans were supplied to lubricate these. The exhortation to use their
oil was presumably to prevent the food from being contaminated with
unsuitable industrial mineral oils rather than catering grade vegetable oils. They appear to have
been supplied unpainted and usually have a "perspiration patina"
although I understand that when used in a Butcher's shop the polished
finish was a matter of pride (and hygiene).

An earlier and rarer version merely carried the Berkel name

Berkels also supplied a conical style, red painted, oilcan that
bore similar advice.

Garden Railway Services, a company that
supplied equipment for live steam garden railways in 16mm scale retailed
a replica of the small Sutcliffe can a few years ago.

Although it has the later style push button the filler
cap appears to be a screw-in style metal design rather than the plastic
push-in version associated with the later cans. There are some
minor differences between this can and authentic Sutcliffe cans but
otherwise it is a fairly faithful replica.

This replica was also produced in brass with matching
brass screw in filler cap and is stamped " GRS Made in China"
on the base.